Coil-supporting structure for superconductive apparatus



Nov. 25, 1969 c, ALBRECHT ET AL 3,480,895

COIL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR SUPERCONDUCTIVE APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Shoat Filed May 19 1966 Nov. 25, 1969 C- ALBRECHT ET'AL Filed May 19 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 25, 1969 ALBREHT ET AL 3,480,895

COIL SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR SUFERTONQUCTIVE APPARATUS .Fi legma 1-9, 19% s Sheets- Sheet United States Patent 3,480,895 COIL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR SUPERCONDUCTIVE APPARATUS Cord Albrecht, Erlangen, Wilhelm Kafka, Tennenlohe, and Dieter Kullmann, Erlangen, Germany, assignors to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, a corporation of Germany Filed May 19, 1966, Ser. No. 551,399 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 10, 1965, S 100,885 Int. Cl. H01f 27/08 US. Cl. 336-60 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Our invention relates to superconductive apparatus.

In apparatus of this type, which includes a superconductive coil, it is necessary for this latter coil to be situated in a thermally insulated manner within a housing in which the coil is refrigerated. In this type of structure diificulties are encountered in absorbing the forces which arise between the coil and the housing in which it is situated, upon excitation or rotary movement of the coil. In order to solve this latter problem it has already been proposed to provide a construction where a thermally insulated and refrigerated superconductive coil is situated within a housing arranged within a hollow space of a multipartite elongated coil-carrier which is surrounded by thermal insulation and which is fixedly positioned within and with respect to the housing by means of mechanical force-transmitting elements.

In a structure of this latter type it is possible to use a pressure-sensitive thermal insulation of great heat resistance composed, for example, of reflecting, wrinkled foils, since the forces between the coil-carrier and the housing are absorbed by the mechanical force-transmitting elements referred to above. These mechanical force-transmitting elements can take the form of tension rods or, in the case of relatively small forces, of spacers which are stressed in compression.

With this latter type of structure the refrigerating 0f the superconductive coil is brought about by way of a refrigerating coil placed within the thermal insulation about the coil-carrier for the superconductive coil.

It is a primary object of our invention to improve a construction of this latter type.

In particular, it has been found that with this latter type of construction the situation of the refrigerating structure outside of the coil-carrying structure, for the superconductive coil, does not provide the most efficient refrigeration of the superconductive coil, and it is therefore an object of our invention to provide a structure of the above type capable of refrigerating the superconductive coil in a manner superior to structures heretofore provided for this purpose.

A more specific object of our invention is to provide refrigerating of the superconductive coil directly within the coil-carrier itself, rather than by way of a refrigerating structure which is located at the exterior of the carrier for the superconductive coil.

Thus, in accordance with our invention, the supercon- Patented Nov. 25, 1969 ductive apparatus includes a superconductive coil and a coil-carrying means which extends at least in part around and carries the superconductive coil with the latter situated within the coil-carrying means of our invention. In accordance with our invention this coil-carrying means is itself formed with spaces through which the refrigerating medium is adapted to flow, and this coil-carrying means is enclosed by a support means within which are located the coil-carrying means together with the superconductive coil situated therein.

According to one embodiment of our invention the coilcarrying means can be formed with elongated passages which form the spaces through which the refrigerating means is adapted to flow, while according to another embodiment of our invention the coil-carrying means includes a netting situated in the immediate vicinity of the superconductive coil and having meshes which form the spaces through which the refrigerating medium is adapted to flow.

Our invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional, schematic, perspective illustration of a superconductive apparatus which incorporates the structure of our invention, the section of FIG. 1 being taken in a plane which extends transversely through the superconductive coils and the structure carrying the same, so that the part of the apparatus which is located only on one side of this latter plane is visible in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2a is a fragmentary sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1, showing the details of that part of the structure of FIG. 1 which is enclosed within the dot-dash circle A;

FIG. 2b is a transverse section through a superconductive coil and the structure directly associated therewith, the plane of FIG. 2b being displaced from the plane of FIG. 2a;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section through another embodiment of a coil-supporting structure according to our invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic top plan view of the superconductive apparatus indicating the plan according to which the refrigerating medium is distributed through the apparatus.

The two-pole winding which is schematically illustrated in section in FIG. 1 consists of a pair of elliptical coils 1 and 2 through which the coil current i flows in the same directions. As a result forces of repulsion form between the coil parts 3-6, and these forces are absorbed by the tension rods 7-10. These tension rods are connected with the support means which encloses and supports the coils, and the details of this latter support means are illustrated in FIGS. 2a, 2b, and 3. The coils together with the supporting structure therefor are situated within elongated tubular housings 14, and within these housings 14 the coils are enclosed within the pair of support means 13 in which the coils are embedded. The tension rods 7-10, as well as the additional tension rods 11, serve to maintain the coils together with their supporting structure in a predetermined position within the housings 14. The additional tension rods 11 are connected with the walls of the housing 14 by way of units 11' which do not form part of the present invention and which serve to limit the extent of yieldability of the tension rods 11.

FIG. 2a shows the details of that part of the structure of FIG. 1 which is located within the dot-dash circle A, and it is to be understood that this construction is duplicated at corresponding parts of the superconductive apparatus. Thus, referring to FIG. 2a it will be seen that the winding wires 12 of the coil 1 are enclosed within an elonfilling material is situated, thus providing the circulation indicated in FIG. 4.

We claim:

1. In a superconductive apparatus, a superconductive coil, coil-carrying means extending at least partly around and carrying said coil, so that said coil is situated at least in part within said coil-carrying means, said coil-carrying means having an elongated Wall of U-shaped cross section in which said coil is situated, said elongated wall containing spacesvin the form of elongated passages through which a refrigerating medium is adapted to flow, said passages being completely enclosed in said elongated wall, and support means enclosing and supporting said coilcarrying means with said coil therein.

2. In a superconductive apparatus, a superconductive coil, coil-carrying means extending at least partly around and carrying said coil, so that said coil is situated at least in part within said coil-carrying means, said coil-carrying means being formed with spaces through which a refrigerating medium is adapted to flow and including a netting at least partly surrounding said coil and having meshes which form said spaces, and support means enclosing and supporting said coil-carrying means with said coil therein.

3. In a superconductive apparatus, a superconductive coil, coil-carrying means extending at least partly around and carrying said coil, so that said coil is situated at least in part within said coil-carrying means, said coil-carrying means having an elongated wall of U-shaped cross section in which said coil is situated and being formed with spaces through which a refrigerating medium is adapted to flow and including a netting situated in said wall of U-shaped cross-section between said wall and coil, said netting having meshes which form said spaces through which the refrigerating medium is adapted to flow, and support means enclosing and supporting said coil-carrying means with said coil therein.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein a plurality of refrigerating foils which are adapted to have a thermally conductive connection with the refrigerating medium from at least one side of said coil into the interior thereof.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said refrigerating foils are covered with an electrically nonconductive, thermally conductive coating.

6. In a superconductive apparatus, a superconductive coil, coil-carrying means extending at least partly around and carrying said coil, so that said coil is situated at least in part within said coil-carrying means, said coil-carrying means being formed with spaces through which a refrigerating medium is adapted to flow, support means enclosing and supporting said coil-carrying means with said coil therein, and a pourable mass which is rigid at superconducting temperatures surrounding said coil-carrying means and said coil therein and situated within said support means fixedly positioning said coil-carrying means and coil therein.

7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein said pourable mass is grease.

8. The combination of claim 3 and wherein at least one of said means has a fluid-tight construction preventing the flow of the refrigerating medium therethrough.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,592,817 4/1952 McKechnie 33661 2,602,035 7/1952 Camilli et al. 336 XR 3,056,071 9/1962 Baker et al. 336-60 XR 3,142,809 7/ 1964 Remenyik 336-61 3,173,079 3/1965 McFee.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,401,274 4/ 1965 France.

H LEWIS H. MYERS, Primary Examiner T. J. KOZMA, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

